Clean Break by David Klein

Author:David Klein [Klein, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-59025-1
Publisher: Crown
Published: 2012-06-05T00:00:00+00:00

After dropping off Spencer, she continued on to the auto parts store. The walking felt good, her legs strong from running with Emery. Maybe she’d get the new battery in her car and have time to take a run before Spencer got home. She could call Emery and meet her in the park. But then she remembered today was Saturday and Emery would be busy with her family; her older girls had swimming.

At the auto parts store, she tried Jake’s number again. This time she didn’t leave a message. Maybe he’d forgotten about his offer to help her. Or maybe he was watching her number come up on his display and ignoring her. Had she completely misread what happened last night? There was no mistaking Jake’s intent when he was kissing her, but she couldn’t blame him if he wanted to avoid her; she’d even suggested as much to him: Why would he want to get involved in her mess with Adam?

She asked at the counter about a battery and the clerk looked up her car make and model, then located the correct battery for her on the parts shelf. He carried it to the counter and asked if she needed anything else.

“They’re pretty easy to put in, aren’t they?” Celeste asked.

“As long as you’ve got a wrench. It’s usually two bolts on the brace and the nuts on the battery connectors.” The clerk was young, early twenties, and could use some hair gel to control his cowlick. “Sometimes the nuts get corrosion on them. It’s a good idea to spray them first.”

“With what?”

He got her a can of lubricant. “Just spray the nuts and wait a few minutes for it to soak in.”

“Thanks.” She lifted the battery and set it back down on the counter. “Wow, it’s really heavy,” she said, thinking of the walk home, almost a mile. “Do you have a bag?”

The clerk put the battery into a thick plastic bag. When she grasped the handles and lifted, the battery formed a tight rectangular outline against the bottom of the bag but didn’t rip the plastic. On the walk back she had to keep switching arms and the battery swung like a pendulum in the bag and bumped her legs. She stopped four times to set the bag down and rest. By the time she got home, both her shoulders ached and her shins were bruised from the bumping. She left the bag in front of her car parked along the curb and then popped the hood and searched around until she spotted the battery. At least it was accessible in the front corner. Good thing she’d gotten the spray, because a white, crusty crud covered the nuts like dirty snow. She shook the can and turned her face while she sprayed the bolts on the brace and the two connecters where the cables clamped to the battery. Then she went inside to change into an old sweatshirt and get her tools.

She came back out with three wrenches she kept along with several screwdrivers in a kitchen drawer.

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